Summary

The favorite and #1 seed were the Indonesians, Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto, the 2005 and 2007 World Championships. The second seeds were Gao Ling and Zheng Bo (CHN), All-England champions in 2007-08. In the first round, Gao and Zheng were unfortunately drawn against Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson, the 2004 silver medalists, and World Champions in 2006. The match, good enough to be a final at most tournaments, was one of the best of the Beijing mixed tournament. It went three sets, with the British pair prevailing, 21-16, 16-21, 21-19, and the #2 seeds were out early. This seemed to open up the tournament for Natsir/Widianto, and they easily made the final. There they met the unseeded Korean pair of Lee Hyo-Jeong and Lee Yong-Dae. In a huge upset, Lee/Lee defeated the Indonesians easily, 21-11, 21-17. The bronze medal match came down to the fourth seeds, He Hanbin and Yu Yang (CHN), defeating the third seeds, Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa of Indonesia, in a titanic three-set struggle, 19-21, 21-17, 23-21.

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